You could say that this story takes place in four main settings: England, the pirate haven Corona, various uninhabited islands, and out at sea. Most of the story is set in the Caribbean, which was at that point in history roaming with pirates. The islands in the Caribbean sea were colonised by the British, the French, the Spanish and the Dutch, among others, and there were great deposits of precious metals and natural resources in the region. Slaves were shipped from Africa to the Caribbean to work on plantations, and when times were difficult in Europe, there were people who sold themselves into slavery to be able to go to the Caribbean where they might have a better future. The Caribbean was a true melting pot where you could find people from all over the world, and though the colonising nations tried, maintaining law and order in the region proved a difficult task. This, and the fact that sailors were treated very poorly and had few job opportunities, made many men (and some women) join pirate crews. (Read more on the subject here and here, for example! This was just a very simple summary of a complex time in history.)

The island of Corona is based on the infamous pirate haven of Tortuga, located off the Northwest coast of Hispaniola (which is now shared by two nations; Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Tortuga was home to buccaneers in the 17th century. I’ve chosen to exclude this part of pirate history from Wavesongs, instead using the location of Tortuga for my own, made-up pirate haven, and making it the center of piracy during a different period in time. In the 1720’s, during the last years of the Golden Age of Piracy, the British had taken control of Nassau, which was the great pirate haven of the region from 1713 to 1718. For the sake of the story I created a place like the havens of the 17th century, where pirates could build their own societies and live pretty much undisturbed. Corona is a town consisting of little more than taverns and brothels, but it is also a place where people are free to live as they please. It’s the one place that my pirates are always longing for, so of course I had to let them stay there for a huge part of the story. 😉